


Burning Connections

by orphan_account



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Its Christmas but you'd never know, M/M, Minor Character Death, Reapers, Souls, after life AU, haikyuusecretsanta2019, hqssiii
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21841903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kei hates working (on the clock) Collectors. He hates when they speak and when they work and the way they carry themselves as if they’re happier than everyone else. Collectors and angels might as well be the same job to Kei - both consisting of loud assholes who think everything they do requires 100% even though their jobs were ridiculously easy.He especially hates when collectors come into his space and keep him from working (he gets paid by the assignment).Collectors Like Kuroo
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35
Collections: Haikyuu Secret Santa 2019





	Burning Connections

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my wonderful girlfriend and my dear friends @falqner and @Hazazel for being my darling Betas!   
> MERRY CHRISTMAS F&S!!! HOPE U ENJOY BABE THIS WAS A TREAT!!

∇∇∇

“Like a flame flickering in the dark of night, a life alone can change the world around it in ways unknown to the human mind. The fire of a soul: strong, powerful, passionate— burning inside each and every person. Souls capable of ruining civilizations and building up empires; people beginning life anew any way they wish- to destroy or to create should it fancy them that day.

But just like the fires that sit atop a candle stick, the flames so bright and bold licking up into the air converting everything it touches into its own timber, it too can die.

The human soul burns brighter than any other, and yet somehow a fire as uncontrollable and dangerous as theirs can go out in an instant too, never to yearn again…never to flicker again- to uh- ummm- fuck again”

That got a single chuckle out of Kei. 

“Every time I hear that damned speech of yours another part of my heart dies.” Kei mutters out as Lev searches for the right words to say.

Kei looked back to his hands tiredly- noticing how his nails had begun to grow over a bit too long. His previously well-kept nails had, in the short few decades he had neglected them, turned into some sort of claw more than human nails. With a sigh he reminded himself to cut them as soon as possible- the last thing he’d want is another scythe mishap. 

“Tsukki! It’s important that I have this down! Imagine if I fail in front of everyone! I’ve already been mistaken as one of those- those- scary ‘holy angels’ for a little over a century now and adding my lack of confident public speaking onto that? Terrifying!”

How could one pair of nails ruin an entire towns worth of souls, all perfectly ripe for the picking? Well to understand that Kei has to explain his mindset during his ‘demon’ phase. Sharp teeth, sharp nails, even sharper attitude. Not even God herself could handle the petulant Moon-Eyed Reaper (but that was a different story for a different story).

“Just stop practicing around me. I’m not your personal speech coach. You have Yaku for that.”

At this Lev turned around and let out a moan no different from the wails of the damned Kei found himself dealing with everyday. Just like the wails, with only one flick of his wrist the sound stopped and the only thing heard was Lev’s soft ‘ _ ow ow ow owww’  _ and the faint sound of his hands rubbing over his neck. Again Kei just sighed while picking at his overgrown nails as he waited for  _ something _ to happen. 

“ _ Bzz. Bzz.”  _

The sound of buzzing took Kei away from his nails and towards his own personal information and confirmation hub: The Sphere. The miniature ball rose into the air as it buzzed, the color switching from bright white to jet black with each pulse. He gestures with his finger and the ball floated towards him, opening up into pieces as if it were an orange; from the center came a screen appearing in front of his face with a message from his supplier. His eyes skimmed through the message quickly and once he finished, he motioned for the ball to close and it dropped into his waiting palm. He stood after pocketing the sphere and glanced towards the sulking Lev across from him at his own desk. 

“Think of it like this Lev-”

Lev turned his head as Kei began to walk through the newly formed portal.

“Nothing can be worse than being compared to an  _ angel _ .” With a snicker and a smile Kei walked into the portal, letting the sounds of a pissy reaper keep him company. 

∇∇∇

It was basically impossible to run into a Collector during reaping hours. Reapers killed humans; Collectors collected the soul and sent it to its appropriate place. The two activities, while continuously causing and affecting each other, didn’t tend to overlap. The humans were frozen in place as time stopped and the Reapers came and did the deed, and left as quickly as they arrived. Shortly after, a Collector was notified and took the soul in for a quick judging before sending it off to its appropriate spot. 

Kei was a Reaper. He reaped. The only Collectors he’d met, he met off work when he was just relaxing somewhere. He had yet to enjoy meeting any of them and it was comforting to know that his feelings weren't changing any time soon (while he did have his moments of enjoyment around Lev, Hinata, and the other dogs of the underworld, his statement still stood). 

So imagine his surprise when he entered the room of his assigned soul to see a Collector standing there. As if the social norms and unspoken rules of every Reaper and Collector, probably ever, hadn’t just broken due to the very fact that one Reaper had walked in on his (un-reaped) soul being disturbed by a hooded figure dressed in red. 

“Collectors aren’t allowed to view the soul while it’s still attached to the body.”

At the sound of Kei’s frankly, freezing voice, the figure turned from the frozen human and looked towards Kei with a smile. Fuck. Kei knew this Collector. It was Kuroo. 

To say he was untrustworthy was an understatement. With messy hair falling onto his face like a mask due to his hood and a cat-like grin sitting happily on his face, everything screamed ‘I’m going to make this harder than it has to be’.

“Oh, my bad I just wanted to see the body myself… they’re a… friend.” 

As he said this his hands moved back towards the face of the human. Kei usually didn’t look at his assignments too hard— their appearance was of no concern of his and no matter how beautiful (or distasteful) they may seem, an order was an order. So as his eyes followed the hands of the collector, he let himself linger on the look of the human. Small, blonde, angry-looking. From what Kei could see the human had been sleeping peacefully before they arrived. Dying in one's sleep. How quaint. It did not matter to Kei. If nothing else, assignments like these were easier for him. No loud pleading and crying once he unpaused time to begin the reaping. 

“Are you going to wake him?”

“Of course not. I’m not an angel. Suffering does little for me”

To that, Kuroo just hummed.

The Collector looked back at Kei. His eyes stood on him as he summoned his sphere and began looking through his weapon collection. Kei usually stuck to using his personal spear for assignments, but when given the chance to use something smaller (only suitable for quiet jobs) he always took the opportunity. Less paperwork. With that, he pressed the sphere’s screen and in his hands a moon carved dagger appeared.

“Watching an official Reaping is considered extremely rude, you know.”

When his comment was met with silence Kei looked back at the Collector behind him. He had moved back to the wall to the right of the sleeping human. He just stood and stared ahead as if his eyes alone could stop the process from happening. It couldn’t.

With a sigh and a quick crack to his neck, Kei got to his knees next to the human and began.

“Morisuke Yaku. You have reached the end of your life as any other being does. Do not cry for the time you will lose but instead smile for the time you had. Have you any last words?”

The sleeping human continued to snore, ignorant to his own demise. Kei raised his dagger above the heart of the human and spoke again.

“With the night as my witness, I reap the soul from your body. May the moon guide you to peace in the next life.”

Kei heard the human’s final breath as he stabbed the dagger through his heart. The soft snores ceased in an instant and the room grew silent without the human’s noise. Getting off of his knees Kei dislodged the dagger and watched as the human’s body was left without any sort of damage. The only proof of the reaping was the floating soul above the body. 

Big, red and blazing. 

“The smallest beings have the biggest flames, don’t they.”

At the sound of Kuroo’s voice, Kei simply documented the completion of his assignment in his sphere and opened his portal. 

With one last bow, Kei left the room.

“Goodbye Mr. Moon!” Kuroo called out teasingly, his voice carrying Kei out the room and ringing in his ears.

∇∇∇

Kei hates working (on the clock) Collectors. He hates when they speak and when they work and the way they carry themselves as if they’re happier than everyone else. Collectors and angels might as well be the same job to Kei - both consisting of loud assholes who think everything they do requires 100% even though their jobs were ridiculously easy. 

He especially hates when collectors come into his space and keep him from working (he gets paid by the assignment).

“I’m very very sorry Tsukki! I can’t allow you to have this soul!” 

“I was assigned to this soul Kuroo. You can’t keep me from my job.”

“Funnily enough I can! Because that one is mine.”

“You’re a Collector. You can’t do anything with a still attached soul, Kuroo.”

The collector has been loudly humming something or another when Kei walked through his portal. The room they were inside was dark, customary for night time, and full of some kind of sports memorabilia. Kei looked past the many trophies and gym bags to briefly study the human he was assigned to. Male, looked around 30 or so— awake. Damn.

If that wasn’t bad enough Kuroo (the bastard) was still standing right next to the bed and staring at Kei as if they were sharing a drink over their shared break and not working. They had been going back and forth for the last 5 minutes or so but it made no real difference in their shared bubble of frozen time. Kei quite literally had all night (but then again so did Kuroo).

“I was given a very special approval from a top Reaper! This human-” His hand lazily shot from his side and extended his hand to point right at the human’s sleeping face, “is mine.”

Did Kei believe Kuroo’s newfound approval and ability to reap a soul? Not particularly. Sure he was a  _ somewhat _ notable figure in their faction of the underworld but that didn’t make everything he said true. Kei didn’t even care for the job itself, the assignment was awake and working with awake humans was always a difficult job. If Kuroo wanted to make Kei’s life easier who was he to deny him? The sooner the soul is confirmed to be detached Kei was technically allowed to go anyway. Might as well let the over-excitable one do the work.

“Fine. But I’m still counting this as my job. Don’t expect to show up on my report. I won’t help you if this human is loud either.”

Faced with Kuroo’s smile (the small kind that are easy to miss when trying to ignore someone) Kei found a chair near the door and got comfortable. He could already tell this was gonna be a long night. 

Kuroo was the one to unfreeze time, and as the room melted from it's icy confines the clock began to tick and the human noticed the two others in his room. 

“Oh. Kuroo?”

“Hey. Long time no see, huh?”

Kei continued to watch them talk for a while. They knew each other apparently. Kei watched them talk and laugh, watched them sit together as their shoulders touched and for a moment thought that Kuroo looked almost soft like this. The room was still dark but it had no effect on the Collector or Reaper; the human on their other hand kept reaching for Kuroo as if he were losing him more and more by the second and every fist worth of fabric grabbed would keep him longer. 

This assignment was very quickly made clear for Kei once the human leaned in for a hug and Kuroo, as soft as a pillow made of air or something else ridiculously light, hugged back. Kei saw as they smiled throughout their conversation. Kuroo had a sad smile, the kind of smile one could only have after years of waiting— years of longing. Kei didn’t like that expression on his face. 

Eventually, a little after 5, right before the sun began to come up into the sky Kuroo said his final goodbyes and ended the life of the human. The sun reached the sky as the soul was collected and documented on Kei’s sphere. The Reaper couldn’t find it in himself to feel any sort of sadness or remorse for taking the man’s soul or ending his life (a job was a job) but he didn’t find himself comfortable with the stilted silence within the room. Especially since the entire night had been spent full of sounds that’ll never be heard again.

“Wanna go get a drink?” 

With nothing else left to do and no pending assignments, Kei let Kuroo lead him inside a portal and away from the still human body. 

[R. A. C. O]

Underworld bars were just like any other bar. Full of alcohol and issues. Kei tended to avoid them in his free time, choosing to do more useful things like stare at the sun or burn trash. Normal things. 

“So how did you like our first assignment together?”

“I wouldn’t say it was  _ together.  _ It was more like you conversed for a few hours and then did my job for me.”

“So is that Tsukki-talk for ‘I loved it’?”

To that Kei just sipped his beer. He had questions. Who was that man? How did they know each other? Did it hurt to be the one that had to do the job? Was Kuroo ok? But the only thing he said was, “This tastes terrible.”

“Tsukki! Don’t be rude! Not everyone can afford the best of the best for you!”

“You’re just cheap.”

“I’ll give you something better on our second date.”

“This is a date?”

“Is it?”

“... It’s a shitty one. Worse than the dates I’ve had with literal angels.”

Kuroo had begun his signature call of ‘ohhh ?? Oya?? Oya?’ at Kei’s words and in a fit of true ‘what the hell’ energy Kei continued. The beers multiplied and the laughs grew louder and louder from both parties until they had to be kicked out due to being a nuisance (it was all Kuroo. Kei swears on his own sphere it was Kuroo). 

They stumbled out into the street clutching onto the others clothes as they laughed and laughed until they didn’t know what they were laughing about anymore. Kuroo threw up at one point and while Kei rubbed his back in a lazy attempt to soothe him, he smiled. 

He didn’t know if liked Collectors anymore than he did the day prior, but he definitely liked the sound of an obnoxious laugh, the smell of cheap beer and the sight of a blinding smile from someone different. 

∇∇∇

The angels kept ruining lives and the Reapers kept ending lives. Collectors collected and nothing really changed. Except for the things that did. 

They started working together more. Sure it was against social norms and sure Kei was teased in every way by everyone ever but— he couldn’t really find it in himself to care. They went out to get drinks after every shared assignment and even got a chance to try  _ expensive  _ drinks. 

Death was good. It felt fresh and new in a way it hadn’t felt in a while. Slowly but surely it was burning as if gas was added to the fire. The fire inside Kei (a flame that was doused in the cold, cold waters of death centuries ago), was lit again. How sweet. 


End file.
